Continental Divide Trail Coalition
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 455051775
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Golden, CO, USA
- Phone
- 3039962759
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Natural Resources Conservation and Protection
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,975,590
- Expenses
- $1,875,800
- Assets
- $1,540,972
- Liabilities
- $369,132
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Greg Pierce (President)
- Kathleen Lynch (Vice President)
- Teresa Martinez (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Teresa Martinez (Executive Director): $114,037 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Cdtc is the lead national partner working with the usfs in the administration, completion, protection, and volunteer stewardship and construction of the continental divide national scenic trail.
What it reported doing in 2024
Stewardship - in 2024 CDTC continued work to cooperatively steward the CDT providing 17,305 volunteer hours dedicated to trail stewardship activities. This included supporting 12 volunteer projects, 3 adopter trainings and 338 volunteer Trail Adopters who conducted regular maintenance along the CDT. Success included adding an additional 15 gates to support trail infrastructure across southern New Mexico. It also include continued efforts to participate in over 20 public processes to participate in agency project planning efforts affecting the CDT support of the Partnership for the National Trails System and showcasing the CDT shared stewardship model across the BLM, NPS and USFS. CDTC continued work to build relationships with Tribal Nations through development of trailhead kiosks across the Carson National Forest and work with 5 Tribal fellows across the entire CDT. CDTC continued signage efforts and trail clearing and installed 34 drains, 102 signs and markers placed, 33,301 feet of trail maintained, 3800 pounds of rock removed, 1425 trees cleared, 2 double stringer bridges installed and scouted 71,000 feet of CDT for trail condition needs. Work also included close collaboration with the USFS CDT Program team on a 2025 GAOA project submission for Regions 2,3, and 4 of the USFS.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 64% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 77.7%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 80.7%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.82; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 25.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 19.5% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 38.1% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 77.7% of revenue deployed · 80.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $114K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.